Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Don’t Know
- Unions, Organized Labor?
- Don’t Know
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Probable
- Was there an ordinance?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Sign?
- Don’t Know
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Probably
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | 1925 | 0 | ||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | 2903 | 0 | ||||||
| 1970 | 2807 | 0 | ||||||
| 1980 | 2672 | 0 | ||||||
| 1990 | 2625 | 0 | ||||||
| 2000 | 2841 | 2 | 5 | 11 | ||||
| 2010 | 2759 | 9 | 2 | 4 | ||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Realtors
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
Testimony of a resident: “OAK HARBOR IS A SMALL COMMUNITY OF ABOUT 2,500 LOCATED ON THE PORTAGE RIVER ABOUT 25 MILES EAST OF TOLEDO AND ABOUT SIX MILES FROM LAKE ERIE. I AM A LIFELONG RESIDENT OF THE COMMUNITY. BECAUSE THERE IS NO MAJOR INDUSTRY IN THE AREA, THE COMMUNITY HAS REMAINED THE SAME SIZE TODAY AS IT WAS WHEN I WAS A KID AND WHEN MY PARENTS WERE GROWING UP IN THE COMMUNITY. ORIGINALLY IT WAS A PLACE FOR FARMERS FROM THE SURROUNDING AREA TO RETIRE TO ONCE THEY HAD QUIT FARMING AND PASSED THE LAND ON TO THEIR SONS. I REMEMBER AS A CHILD GROWING UP ALWAYS BEING TOLD THAT “NEGROES HAD TO BE OUT OF TOWN AT SUNDOWN” BECAUSE OF A CITY ORDINANCE. I HAVE NEVER RESEARCHED TO SEE IF THERE REALLY WAS AN ORDINANCE. I DO HOWEVER BELIEVE IT IS TRUE. WE WOULD HAVE BLACKS COME INTO TOWN TO FISH ALONG THE RIVER BUT THEY WOULD BE GONE BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY. THERE WERE NEVER ANY BLACKS IN THE COMMUNITY. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THERE WERE KKK MEMBERS IN THE COMMUNITY WHO WOULD HOLD RALLYS BUT THAT WAS BEFORE MY TIME. I DO REMEMBER IN 1960 (OR 1956) THAT OAK HARBOR HOSTED A GOLDEN GLOVES BOXING TOURNAMENT AT THE HIGH SCHOOL. MY FATHER AND GRANDFATHER WERE BOXING FANS SO I GOT TO GO SEE THE FIGHTS. THE SEMI FINALS WERE ON FRIDAY AND THE FINALS WERE ON SATURDAY. I CLEARLY REMEMBER THAT THE WHITE FIGHTERS FROM OUT OF TOWN STAYED OVERNIGHT AT THE OAK HARBOR HOTEL DOWNTOWN BUT THAT THE BLACK FIGHTERS DID NOT AND WERE SENT BACK TO TOLEDO. ONE OF THESE FIGHTERS WAS WILBERT “SKEETER” MC CLURE A BLACK MIDDLE WEIGHT FROM TOLEDO. SKEETER WON THE GOLDEN GLOVES AND THEN WENT ON TO WIN THE GOLD MEDAL IN THE OLYMPICS … THE OTHER SPECIFIC REFERENCE THAT I HAVE IS THAT THE DEED TO OUR HOUSE CONTAINS A RESERVATION AGAINST SELLING THE LOT TO NEGROES. MANY OF THE ORIGINAL DEEDS CONTAIN SIMILAR LANGUAGE. I CAN REMEMBER AS A CHILD PEOPLE EXPRESSING THE “FEAR” THAT A BLACK WOULD MOVE INTO OUR COMMUNITY. TO THIS DAY WE REALLY DON’T HAVE ANY BLACK FAMILIES IN TOWN. WE HAVE MIXED RACIAL COUPLES AND THE SCHOOLS HAVE HAD BLACK CHILDREN ATTEND BUT FOR THE MOST PART BLACKS HAVE NOT BECOME A PART OF OUR COMMUNITY … I WOULD SAY THAT THERE ARE MANY IN OUR COMMUNITY THAT PROBABLY STILL HOLD THE ‘SUNDOWN TOWN’ MENTALITY. THEY HAVE NEVER HAD NOR TAKEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW THE BLACK CULTURE.”
Email testimony from 08/2014: “I was born in Oak Harbor, Ohio in [the early fifties]. I remember being told that any black people who quite often fished along the Portage River in Oak Harbor, had to be out of town before dark. I never even saw a black person “up close” until I was about 5 and that was in Toledo, Ohio. Quite a few of my relatives still live there (2014) and I don’t believe any blacks live there now (that I’ve heard about).”